Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on the SCO member countries to safeguard regional peace and ensure common security besides focussing on pragmatic cooperation to speed up economic recovery.

Addressing the 23rd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS) presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual format, President Xi underscored efforts to uphold multilateralism and improve global governance.

In a veiled criticism of the United States, Xi called for opposing hegemonism and power politics and making the system of global governance fairer and more equitable.

He also made a pitch for the SCO members to synergise high-quality cooperation under his pet multi-billion dollar project the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with various countries' development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives.

The BRI is a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched by President Xi when he came to power in 2013. It aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.

The USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship project of the BRI.

India has strongly protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India is also critical of the BRI, which drew global concerns over China's debt diplomacy of extending huge loans to smaller countries for unsustainable infrastructure projects.

Xi said SCO member states should have better synergize high-quality cooperation under BRI with various countries' development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He also called for efforts to safeguard regional peace and ensure common security and strengthen exchanges and mutual learning among SCO and foster closer people-to-people ties.

The virtual summit under India's presidency was attended by leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Iran as well.

The Beijing-headquartered SCO - founded in Shanghai in 2001 - is an economic and security bloc comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

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